Hand Picked Taiwan Lishan High Mountain Oolong Tea

I swear I finished half of my bag of this. I got this tea impatiently because I needed some Li Shan in my life again.

This one is on the lighter, crisper side of Lishans, but the profile is generally sweet, fresh, floral, and fruity. I tend to do this one Gong Fu, going heavier on the leaf for 4-7 grams for 6 oz and Tumbler Grandpa styling it with 3 grams. I prefer lighter temperatures for it personally, but it can handle near boiling temperatures with a heftier amount of leaves. I have yet to succeed brewing this western, but I’ll figure out a method yet.

The lightness of the green oolong is akin to washing fresh spinach or morning dew on green blades of grass in the mountains. I could simply use the word fresh again, but I like to paint little pretentious pictures anyway. I generally prefer a rinse for this leaves because the first cup can be generally water chestnutt-y or grassy, but the rinse is drinkable. The second cups always blooms with delicate flowers and powdery sugar notes from the smell. It vaguely resembles the middle range of the air in the Kualoa mountain’s tropical forests. I know, it really resembles the air in Taiwan, but just think tropical mountains covered in rain and luscious greenery.

Shorter steeps of 15 or even 30 seconds early on were grassy/mistier, and later longer steeps were more citrusy and nectar like. The profiles shift and become sweeter in later longer infusions of four minutes gong fu in steeps five or six (my average is 8 cups gong fuwith this bugger). Tasting it, the profile is pleasantly grassy, and very floral notes that are a little bit more like pinneapple for me personally. Passionfruit is much more precise. The fruity notes resemble clementine moreso in later steeps as it becomes sweeter, softer, yet fuller bodied. Plumeria and hibiscus come to mind for me over and over, moreso sweet hibiscus with a plumeria’s creaminess. Lilac is a given, but the florals are accented most by the fruity notes. Mom noticed jasmine, though I might scrap the florals to these few words: Jasmine or orange blossom, osmanthus mid to later steeps, and the usual honeysuckle. Every once in a while, a snickerdoodle notes pops up with the sugar cane, but the honey notes are vaguer for me as they are a collection of the fruity, floral, and sweeter notes overall.

As many cups and as much ceremony Gong Fu brought me, I preferred the taste in my Tumbler a little more because the creamy florals and sugary fruit notes were better highlighted in it. This is why I need to figure out a way to make this western because it probably can handle it, and I can maybe save more leaves.

I’m sorry that I am now just getting to the recommendation, but I recommend this tea as a solid Li Shan with fresher rain water qualities you might pick up with other, more expensive oolongs. The price for this is still hefty, even with a discount ($40 for 150 g and a tin), it is still worth it as a good tea. If only this were sold in smaller quantities…though I am glad that I have this much.

As much as I slightly prefer What-Cha’s Li Shan (WHY DIDN’T I SAVE UP MORE FOR IT!!!!), this was an excellent soft tea worthy of its price. I also love Berylleb as a Tea Vendor and I am so happy to have the tin this came in. For now, I am a happy Daylon.